How to Target Brand-Aware Clients

How do you target someone who's brand aware?

Here’s how this all works. Marketing, some of it is very event specific, right? You might be doing recognition marketing, win a free engagement session, 50% off, but at the end of the day when that customer is seeing that, they don’t know who you are yet.

So it becomes very important is to identify a signature style of photography and a signature style of marketing. When Sal says signature style of marketing, that could be your voice. Think about Sal’s voice for a second. He’s not talking about his audible voice. He’s talking about the voice of his marketing, right? If you don’t know what that means, let’s explain it.

Sal’s brand is very in your face, sarcastic, tongue and cheek. When Sal’s on his webinar, when he’s online, when he’s on a platform, he’s a smart ass 90% of the time. It’s very difficult to get him to be serious unless there’s something serious going on. He just doesn’t take things that serious. That’s leaked into his brand. His clients know that. That becomes part of his brand.

So if you run an ad and showing all these dramatic shots, a bride who sees that will start recognizing that is you. For example, Sal constantly gets feedback from his clients and potential clients that when they see one of his images on Instagram, they know it’s his. That’s a brand. That’s awareness. That’s connecting with people who are going to be brand aware and care.

A dog whistle to clients

It’s not this hard definitive thing. It’s a little bit of this soft voodoo magic kind of thing. But you’ve got to be doing things to create that brand. It’s like a dog whistle. The way Sal markets his brand is a dog whistle to clients who might see value in that. What he’s not doing, notice, is identifying brand as income level. He has shot weddings at VFW halls, and if you don’t know what those are, they’re shitholes, unfortunately, where the bride and groom probably paid less than $500 or $1000 to be there, but they’re paying Sal $10,000-$15,000 to photograph and video their wedding.

That’s because they appreciate photography. They appreciate the brand. They want to be able to say, “Salvatore Cincotta shot my wedding.” Same for seniors. The kids in the schools will say, “Well, you know, Sal’s too expensive.” Okay, that’s amazing. That’s the best feedback he could ever hope for. He wants to be. That means when you photograph with him, you didn’t joke. No one’s ever saying Sal who? Who did your senior pictures? Who did your family pictures? No one’s saying that. They’ve heard of Sal one way or another. That’s how you build that brand.